SMHA Water History Video (1920s – 2014)
by Norman and Connie Pillsbury
Presented at Annual Meeting, Sept 3, 2017
~Two-Minute History of Saunders Meadow Tract~
Series 1: From the beginnings to 1972.
By Connie Jones Pillsbury
3rd generation: Original Lot 6 (Now lot 12)
Saunders Meadow Tract: Referred to in the By-Laws as Tract No. 11049, including 57 residential dwelling lots and common lands, and Tract No. 5103, Riverside County, California.
In 1920 the Forest Service offered to the public the opportunity to lease a lot in a Special Use Summer Home Tract, the Tahquitz Tract, in Saunders Meadow near Idyllwild, in the Cleveland National Forest. (The San Jacinto unit of Cleveland National Forest, which surrounds Idyllwild, was transferred to the San Bernardino National Forest in 1925.) My grandfather, Elwood Jones, leased the second lot in the 59-lot tract, Lot 6 (now Lot 12) in 1924, next to Lee Durham, who was the first lessee on Lot 5 (now Lot 11) in 1922.
As the lots were leased, the permittees joined together to form the Tahquitz Meadow Improvement Association, to develop a water supply and for “the mutual protection of the property, the enforcement of regulations of the Department of Agriculture relating to the National Forests in regard to sanitation, fires, public health and recreation and social life of its members.” (July 8, 1927)
Through the years, the permittees, led by Jones and Ray Tecklenborg, developed the water system from springs, first at Granite Springs above Tecklenborg’s Lot 8 (now Lot 14) and then over the hill to the west at Big Cedar Springs, adding tanks in the l960s. The system was maintained through dedicated volunteer labor of the permittees, most notably Sam Minnich of Lot 8 (now Lot 39).
In the mid 1960s the Association began to explore the possibility of doing a land exchange with the Forest Service to provide for fee simple ownership of lots. Under the guidance and years of hard work by the Board, especially John Jones, son of Elwood Jones, and others, a suitable property of 80 acres in Bautista Canyon south of Hemet was purchased for $38,744 (other accounts $41,000), recorded on May 5, 1972.
A new st0ck cooperative was formed, Saunders Meadow, Inc., for the purpose of management of the 80-acre tract consisting of private cabins and common land. Each residential dwelling permittee received one share of stock for the purchase fee of $1,500. Surveys establishing lot boundaries and new lot numbers, permits, By-Laws, CC&Rs, legal consultation, and government interface required hundreds of volunteer hours by the Board as the tract transitioned from a government lease entity to private subdivision status.
In A Statement of Objectives in September 1972, as the preface for the By-Laws of the new Saunders Meadow, Inc., John B. Jones wrote: “The objectives of the Corporation are to preserve these 80 acres in their natural state for the mutual and co-operative use of the members, to avoid and resist all efforts to urbanize them, and to strive at all times to upgrade the personally owned improvements to the end that this beautiful and invaluable forest oasis may remain intact for the enjoyment of present and future generations.”
For a complete detailing of the Saunders Meadow Tract, see “A Place Without Fences” here.